illegal workers found at local business

Sheriff's deputies raided a west Phoenix business Thursday with plans to arrest 35 people who are believed to be illegal immigrants and have used fraudulent documents to get their jobs.

Sheriff's spokesman Brian Lee said the raid was being made as part of a potential employer sanctions case against Laser Masters, a company that supplies printer cartridges.

A woman who answered the phone at the business and declined to give her name confirmed that deputies were raiding the business.

Lee said the investigation began after deputies received a tip on an immigration hot line several months ago.

65 Arrested by Sheriffs in Chandler Business Raid

One of the employees arrested was allegedly using the Social Security Number of a White House staffer.

Authorities raided a Gold Canyon Candle Company, a manufacturing plant near Phoenix on Wednesday, in an investigation into whether the business hired illegal immigrants. While no employer sanction allegations were filed against the Gold Canyon Candle Company in Chandler, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the investigation will continue into whether the business knowingly hired illegal workers.

65 people – most of whom were in the country illegally – were arrested in the raid. Twenty-three people were booked on identity theft allegations. Another 37 were taken into custody simply for being in the country illegally. Five U.S. citizens were arrested on outstanding criminal warrants.

The company said it conducts background checks on all hires and cooperated with investigators. "Gold Canyon is in compliance with state and federal requirements for hiring co-workers and proactively verifies the work status of every co-worker prior to hiring,'' CEO Curt Waisath said in a statement.

Sheriff Arpaio said a woman who has worked at the plant for seven years was using the Social Security number of a man who works in the White House. The sheriff declined to name the White House employee, citing security reasons.

No business operators have been formally accused of civil employer sanction violations in the eight months since Arizona has prohibited employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. Maricopa County deputies had previously raided two other businesses in similar cases, but none have yet been accused in court of committing such a violation, though employees of the firms were arrested on ID theft charges.

Curt Waisath has some explaining to do. How could this being going on under his nose? I think saying that he had no idea isn't going to cut it with the residents of Arizona, especially those who care about border control.

"Operation Scheduled Departure"

Phoenix Joins "Operation Scheduled Departure"

The Bush administration is inviting people who have ignored orders to leave the country to surrender at immigration offices and leave voluntarily, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Wednesday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security, is launching "Operation Scheduled Departure" on Aug. 5 in the cities of Santa Ana, Calif.; San Diego; Phoenix; Chicago and Charlotte, N.C., said spokeswoman Cori Bassett. The program will end Aug. 22.

People who have been ordered to leave the country but remain in the U.S. and have not committed a crime can participate, Bassett said.

"Those folks will be able to walk into an ICE office and say I'm here and I want to go home," Bassett said. They will not be jailed as most people are who are arrested because they are believed to be in the country illegally, she said. They will not be required to wear tracking devices, she said.

Jim Hayes, the acting ICE detention and removal director, said some 572,000 people in the country have final deportation orders but have not committed a crime.

Bassett said the people who take advantage of the program will get up to 90 days to pull together money to pay for family members to return home with them, attend to older parents or take care of any other arrangements.

Hayes said people with deportation orders who have previously surrendered to ICE usually need a month to 40 days to square away family affairs.

ICE Director Julie Myers first announced the program on an Univision Sunday news program, but did not provide full details.

Myers' comments were translated into Spanish. In the translated interview on the Univision Web site, she said the program would be an organized way for people to self deport, especially if immigrants fear ICE might come to their home or show up at their workplace.

She said people could show up to ICE offices with passports and documents.

Hayes said the idea came from advocates who have said people would show up if given the chance to surrender. "We hope the advocacy groups back up what they told us," he said.

But the idea was quickly criticized. Frank Sharry, executive director of the immigration advocacy group America's Voice, said it was not a serious proposal, reminiscent of a "Saturday Night Live" sketch.

"The idea that millions of people are going to knock on the government's door and ask to be deported is pure fantasy. This is not a solution; this is mass deportation on the cheap, and it just won't work."

Hayes said ICE has 104 "fugitive alien" teams that are highly successful.

ICE has been conducting work and home raids to track down people it believes are in the country illegally. Those raids have drawn praise from anti-immigration backers and criticism from immigration advocates.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff promised to step up immigration enforcement after Congress failed to pass an immigration reform bill last year.

Hayes denied that the voluntary departure program was designed to increase the numbers of immigrants removed from the country or as a political move in the midst of the presidential election where immigration remains a volatile issue.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus separately called on President Bush to end the ICE raids after hearing stories from children and families in Postville, Iowa, where the agency carried out one of the largest raids in U.S. history at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plan.

"We need to end these raids. These raids do absolutely no good," said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus planned to meet Thursday to come up with strategies on how to respond to the Iowa raid.

"It's not ICE's job to write the immigration laws," said Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., who chairs the caucus.

Also this week, New Life Covenant and others will gather a truckload of toiletries, disposable diapers and food. The group will drive the truck to Postville, pitch tents in the town Friday and distribute its goods to families of the detained immigrants, Gutierrez said.

Associated Press Writer Anabelle Garay in Dallas contributed to this report.

On the Net: Immigration and Customs Enforcement: http://www.ice.gov

Officer arrested in massive $2 million meth bust

Let's hear it again for Sheriff Joe! Great job on another bust!

A seven month investigation by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office netted a massive meth bust including assault weapons, cash, and the arrest of a D.O.C. officer.

According to the Sheriff's office, detectives followed a car that was under surveillance and made a routine traffic stop near 83rd avenue and Indian School. In a search of the vehicle detectives found 4 pounds of pure meth inside a hidden compartment.

The two people inside the vehicle were taken into custody by the detectives. The driver of the vehicle, Domingo Ruiz, was determined to be an illegal alien by deputies.

The Sheriff's investigation started when an anonymous tip came in saying that illegal drug activity was happening in the area. A total of 5 houses in the west Valley were put under surveillance for the investigation.

Search warrants were executed on Tuesday at each of the houses. One house contained an additional 16 pounds of meth. Also seized from the houses were weapons including AK-47s, shotguns and pistols, scales, over $200,000 in cash and six vehicles. According to detectives two of the vehicles were customized so that they could hide drugs in hidden compartments.

The estimated street value of the methamphetamine seized during the traffic stop and the house searches is about $2 million. Detectives say law enforcement in other states also confiscated 35 pounds of meth, 12 pounds of cocaine and another $200,000 in cash allegedly connected to the Ruiz family. They believe that the drugs were run through Nogales and Tucson before being distibuted to other states via Maricopa County.

In all six people have been taken into custody, all relatives of Domingo Ruiz. One of the arrested relatives, the son of Domingo named Noe Ruiz, is a Department of Corrections officer at the Lewis Prison Complex in Buckeye, Arizona.

Keep catching the illegal alien's ruining our society! Thank you Sheriff Joe.